Painted Jug from Enkomi (AM 2659)
Unknown · Late Cypriot period, circa 1600 to 1050 BC
A jug of pinkish ochre clay, twenty centimetres tall, with a rounded body and painted decoration. Look at the shape first: the narrow neck and single handle are made for pouring wine or oil at a table or beside a grave. Then follow the painted bands and motifs, applied in dark paint on the pale surface before firing. Cypriot potters of the Late Bronze Age produced their own wares while also copying the fashionable Mycenaean pottery imported from Greece, and the Commons title given to this vessel calls it an imitation of such a model.
The jug was found in tomb four hundred and ten at Enkomi, the port city on the east coast of Cyprus whose cemeteries yielded thousands of vases. Tombs there were family chambers reused over generations, so pots like this accompanied the dead alongside jewellery, seals and weapons. The museum record is brief and gives no acquisition date, but the tomb number links it to the excavations of the French mission at the site. Compare its profile with the imported Mycenaean vessels nearby to judge for yourself how faithfully the Cypriot potter followed his model.
Did You Know? Enkomi tombs were reopened again and again for new burials, so a single chamber could hold pottery spanning several centuries.
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